BY DIRAMAKINI
THE Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr. Mwigulu Nchemba, has said through strong coordination of fiscal and monetary policies, Tanzania has managed to implement policies and operations, which have cushioned the country’s economy from the recent global shocks.
He said this when opening the 8th Gilman Rutihinda Memorial Lecture organized by the Bank of Tanzania on March 3, 2023 in Dar es Salaam.
The Gilman Rutihinda Memorial Lecture was inaugurated in 1995 in honour of the late Gilman Rutihinda, the third Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, for his outstanding contribution to economic policies and development. Mr. Rutihinda died while in office.
Minister Nchemba attributed the economic growth of 4.9 per cent recorded in 2021, an average growth of 5.2 percent during the first three quarters of year 2022 and a relatively stable inflation, increasing a bit to 4.9 per cent recently to effective coordination between monetary and fiscal policies.
“Let me assure you that personally, I am a strong advocate of coordination in these areas and others. And, for the Ministry of Finance and Planning, I would like to reaffirm our longstanding commitment in sustaining coordination of monetary and fiscal policies,” he said. Dr. Nchemba said current global trends make policy coordination even more imperative in sustaining economic growth and the welfare of people.
The theme of this year’s lecture was ‘Strengthening Monetary and Fiscal Policy Coordination in Challenging Global Economic Conditions’ with the guest speaker being Prof. Shantayanan Devaran, a Development Economist from Georgetown University, USA.
Central Bank of Kenya Governor Dr. Patrick Njoroge chaired the session while Prof. Jehovaness Aikaeli from School of Economics at the University of Dar es Salaam and the Executive Director of the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI) were discussants of the paper.Welcoming participants to the lecture, Bank of Tanzania Governor underscored the importance of coordination of monetary and fiscal policies saying doing so was crucial in ensuring price stability and economic growth.
Also in attendance were the widow of the late Rutihinda, Mrs. Josephine Rutihinda his three children and other relatives, Deputy Governors of the Bank of Tanzania, Board members of the Bank of Tanzania,.